Below Ba Sing Se
by Dreaming 11
Summary: What happens in the crystal catacombs below Ba Sing Se and onwards..... Will Katara finally see the good that is in Zuko? Understanding, betrayal, kindness, and angst. :D PLEASE READ AND REVEIW!
1. Moment Destroyed

**Hey! This is a work in progress, there will be more of this. And I apologize to anyone in advance if I make you hate me. Zutarians and supporters of Kataang both. I honestly am okay with both. On the one hand, I think Zuko and Katara are perfect for each other but I also can't bear to see Aang's heart broken, the poor guy. So, yeah, try not to hate me, I'm just telling it like it was on the show. Please review! Reviews are VERY appreciated. Please and thank you! **

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

"Ugh. I hate the catacombs. Stupid prison. Stupid crystals. Stupid Azula."

Katara muttered darkly under her breath as she slumped against the wall, her arms wrapped around her knees. She had been thrown into the crystal catacombs under Ba Sing Se by Azula and the Dai Li. Katara was allowing herself a brief moment of weakness instead of immediately trying to escape. But before she could lament her fate too much farther, the harsh shriek of metal as it was dragged across stone sounded in the stuffy silence of her prison.

"Here, you got company!" a guard yelled down before the thump of something being thrown to the stone floor was heard. Katara stood and whirled around in fluid motion, automatically slipping into a bending stance, her pouch of water at the ready. When she turned, she saw who it was slumped on the ground. It took her a moment to realize who it was, for he was wearing the ratty clothes of an Earth Kingdom peasant instead of his usual red royal robes. Even more startling was that he had a full head of dark shaggy hair as opposed to the tight ponytail and shaved head.

"Zuko!" she cried, surprised, the hatred not yet in her voice. But the moment passed and she glared at him as he righted himself and burned off his rope bonds. He was kneeling on the ground facing away from Katara as she ranted and raved behind him.

"Why did they throw you in here? Oh wait, it's another trap, so when Aang comes to save me, you'll have him in your little fire nation clutches," the sarcasm in her voice was tangible, the scorn so evident.

Zuko's only reaction was to turn his head slightly to glance at Katara before shifting back to his former position.

Frustrated with his lack of reaction, Katara yelled again.

"You're a terrible person, you know that?! Always hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace! But what do you care," the teenager muttered bitterly,"You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading violence and hatred is in your blood,"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Zuko stated, bitterness and a hint of anger in his voice.

"I don't?!" Katara yelled incredulously, "How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through. Me personally!" the waterbender turned away, her eyes tearing and her hand reaching up to touch the necklace that was all she had left of her mother. Falling to her knees, the tears escaped her eyes and fell freely.

"The Fire Nation took my mother away from me," she finally explained.

The banished Prince turned his head to look at her, his eyes growing wide in astonishment. He truly looked sorry as he said, "That's something we have in common, then,"

Now it was Katara's turn to be surprised. Her face was shocked as she stood up. The two enemies faced each other before Katara turned away.

"It's just, for so long now, whenever I imagine the enemy, it was your face that I saw," Katara said softly.

"My face," he looked at the ground as he self-conciously touched his scar, "I see,"

"No, no! That's not what I meant,"

"It's all right," he said, "I used to think that this scar marked me. Marked me as the banished Prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized hat I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark,"

"Maybe you could be free of it!"

Zuko's eyes widened and a flicker of hope kindled in his eyes. When he turned to face Katara, the two suddenly find themselves very close together, though neither noticed the intimacy of the situation in their growing excitement.

"I have healing abilities," Katara began. But before she can continue, Zuko's eyes harden and his fists clench, the flicker of hope extinguished.

"It's a scar. It can't be healed,"

"Maybe." the waterbenderreached into her robes and pulled out a vial, "This is water from the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole. It has special properties so I've been saving it for something important,"

Even in his hope for his scar to finally be erased, Zuko is startled that she would consider healing his scar to be important.

"I don't know if it would work, but...."

Zuko bowed his head, his eyes closed as he contemplates the news that if he accepted, he could finally be rid of his scar. In an attempt to comfort him, Katara reached out to touch his scar gently with the tips of her fingers, looking up at him with something in her eyes that couldn't be put to words.

Suddenly, there was a crash, sending rocks and crystals flying into the air. Zuko and Katara's eyes flashed open and both turned to look at the source of the crash.

"Aang!" Katara ran up to the young Avatar, hugging him ferociously as Zuko looked on, startled and left out. Aang's eyes glanced happily at Katara before turning to glare at Zuko, suspicion and warning in his eyes.

Smiling, Katara pulled out of the hug slightly, "Aang, I knew you would come," and with that, she embraced him again.

"Uncle! I don't understand! What are you doing with the Avatar?" Zuko shouted, pointing accusingly at Aang as he faced his uncle.

"Saving you, that's what," Aang retorted angrily.

"AARGH!" Zuko growled, lunging to attack Aang, stopping only when Iroh stuck out an arm to hold him back.

"Zuko, it is time we talked," he said gravely. To Aang, he smiled kindly, "Go ahead. Help your other friends, we will catch up with you,"

Aang smiled and bowed respectfully to Iroh before running off into the tunnel. Katara followed at a walk, her steps measured and paced as she cast one last sad glance back at Zuko, her eyes filled with sadness and longing, perhaps wishing their moment hadn't been destroyed.


	2. Decisions, Decisions

**Hey people! As far as I know, one person is reading this story but that's ok. I'm sure more of you guys out there will read it. :D Sorry this is so short, but I'm at a mental roadblock here. And people, if you read this, PLEASE REVEIW!!!! It's very encouraging to know that there are people reading my story. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

Zuko watched until the Avatar and the waterbender disappeared into the dark depths of their escape tunnel. The expression on his face was inscrutable, like an empty slate; blank. Inside though, his thoughts were of whirlwind of uncertainty and his emotions had tangled into one big ball of raw nerves.

_Why had she left? Why did it hurt so much when she had rushed up to the Avatar? Even more, why did I **care**!? It's not like she **meant** anything to me....but would she really have healed my scar? What did that look she gave me when she left mean? Oh dear Agni, I"m so confused!_

Finally, pushing these questions that were vying for space in his head away, Zuko turned to his uncle.

"Why Uncle?" he said simply, turning away.

"You have come to the Crossroads of Destiny. It is time for you to choose. It is time for you to choose **good**," the old man's voice, normally so cheery and care-free, was serious and carried a grave air of authority.

Zuko's jaw clenched as he looked down. He was still fighting this internal battle of good and evil when there was a crash as some of the crystals in the catacombs shot up around Iroh, encasing him in green and rendering him immobile. Zuko's head whiped around and he watched Azula and two Dai Li agents walk out of a gaping whole in the stone wall.

"I expected this kind of treachery from you, uncle. But Zuko..." Her voice was pitying, placating, and so Zuko shifted out of a defense stance as she walked towards him.

"Prince Zuko," she said, emphasizing his title, "You're a lot of things, but you're not a traitor. Are you?" so many hidden threats crouched behind her words that Zuko was slowly becoming confused. Finally, he looked toward his uncle and shouted out a command.

"Release him immediately,"

Ignoring him, Azula continued, "It's not too late for you, Zuko. You can still redeem yourself,"

At this, the banished Prince looked up, the faintest glimmer of hope in his eyes as he yearned for Azula's lying words to be true.

"The kind of redemption she offers is not for you!" Iroh called out from his crystal prison.

"Why don't you let him decide, uncle," Azula sneered.

"I need you, Zuko. I've plotted every step of this day. This glorious day. And the only way we win, is together," she said to Zuko, her voice shifting from sneering towards her uncle, to pleading and kind to her brother.

"At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have Father's love. You will have everything you want,"

"Zuko," Iroh said, his voice ragged, "I'm begging you, Look into your heart and see what it is you truly want,"

Zuko closed his eyes and his fingers curled into tight fists by his side. With a wave of her hand, Azula signaled the Dai Li to leave.

"You are free to choose," she tossed the remark carelessly over her shoulder. Without a backward glance, she stalked out of the room, leaving a stressed and confused Zuko to debate his fate.

(shifts to Katara and Aang running through a different part of the catacombs, where there is a waterfall and a canal of water in the stone)

Both benders were tired, and held onto the others hand as they ran through the cavern towards escape. Suddenly, a crackling bolt of blue shoots out towards them. Releasing Katara's hand, Aang whirled around, simultaneously raising a wall of solid earth to deflect Azula's attack. Everything was silent for a moment, and Aang and Katara crouched down, wary and alert. They were ready when Azula came sprinting out of the smoke, leaping from rock formation to rock formation, firing blue lightning as she ran. Anger scrawled across her face, Katarabent a huge wave of water, worthy of a tsunami, at Azula. Barely batting an eye, Azula allowed her lightning to zap Katara's wave out of existence. With a leering smirk, Azula fires a huge bolt at the two people she wanted to kill at the moment. Working in unison, Aang and Katarabent a wave of water in front of them to block Azula's attack.

Azulashifted and was just about to fire again when a huge blast of red-orange flame leapt between Azula, Aang, and Katara. The three of them turned to watch Zuko, waiting for his next move, waiting to see whose side he would take.


	3. Betrayal

Uncertainty flashed in Zuko's eyes, debating with himself, trying to decide what to do. He glanced at Azula. _Redemption, Father's love, honor, everything he ever wanted._His eyes flickered to the Avatar, standing protectively in front of the water wenc- no, waterbender. _Healing, the good thing, last chance for peace, Uncle's approval_.

He had his answer.

Zuko's eyes light on Aang and he took a preparing breath. Aang's eyes widened as he realized what Zuko was about to do.

Expelling the breath with a powerful grunt, Zuko sent a huge toung of fire at Aang. The Avatar's face hardens as he realizes what Zuko has done and quickly blocks the attack with a spinning ball of air.

Katara's face crumpled, she was stunned. Amazement, shock, betrayal, hurt. The emotions flickered across her face as the choice Zuko had made registers in her mind. She might have broken down right there and started screaming and attacking the **traitor **through bitter tears if her attentiion had not been diverted by the Fire Nation princess.

Azula fired a small bolt of blue fire at Katara, a taunting, victorious smirk on her face. Katara blocked with a wave of water, still too stunned to do anything on the offensive.

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Zuko shifted forward in his stance and began firing fast fire punches at Aang. The Avatar leapt into the air and retaliated with a huge wave of air, one that threw Zuko back into the stone wall with a grunt and a thud. Following up his attack, Aang sent another burst of air at Zuko. But the Prince was already gone. He rolled forward and fired bursts of fire at Aang. Being a natural airbender, Aang dodged and skipped up the crystals, avoiding the attacks until he was crouched on a ledge high above Zuko, Azula, and Katara. He was kept occupied there, fending off Zuko's two fire whips.

_When had he learned to do that?! That was **definitely**not a firebender move._

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Azula fired wave after wave of lightning at Katara, forcing her to block, giving no opening for attack. Suddenly, Katara's two water whips shot forward, one encasing Azula's arm, the other her leg. Katara was lifting her up, trying to destroy her balance when Zuko suddenly leapt in and scattered Katara's water whips with a well-placed flame.

Azula smirked as she got up to go engage the Avatar, leaving Zuko and Katara to fight with fire and water whips.

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"I thought you had changed!" Katara yelled, her voice hoarse with emotion.

"I** have **changed," his voice was steely with determination. Anger flickered in his eyes and he shot forward to shoot a fire whip at Katara.

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Azula sped forward towards Aang, propelled by two jets of blue fire. Taking a breath, Aang prepares himself for her attack by earthbending crystals to conform to his body, giving him a luminescent green armor. He braced himself, raising his arms to block her attack and shifting his feet wider apart. But he had misjudged the strength of Azula's blow and he was blown backwards, his crystal armor shattered, and was thrown unconscious to the floor.

Together, the tow fire siblings ganged up on Katara with lightning and fire whips. Katara is strong, but not strong enough to stand up to both of the fire siblings. A well placed fire whip sent Katara sprawling on the floor, badly hurt.

Suddenly, an enraged Aang comes hurtling towards them on a rumbling wave of rock. Azula smirks, Zuko's face was blank, as they both turned to face the Avatar.


	4. Escape

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

Moments before Aang reaches the Fire Nation siblings, a Dai Li agent springs out and with a quick motion of his hands, sends Aan tumbling heavily to the ground under a pillar of stone. Aang springs back up again, but the Dai Li just keep coming out from the caves, forming rows and rows of uniformed, deadly, elite, earthbenders.

Steely determination in her bright blue eyes, Katara shifts into the octopus form, calling the water to form eight waving arms around her that flicker in and out, sometimes reaching out to whip the air, daring the rows of Dai Li to attack her. Aang plants his feet firmly on the ground and prepares a whirling sphere of air. His eyes flicker between the fire nation royalty, each reading to attack him, and the seemingly endless rows of Dai Li surrounding Katara. The stubbornness fades from his eyes as the hopelessness of the situation registers in his mind.

You have to let her go!

The guru's voice sounds eerily in Aang's head. It's the only way, he knows.

Aang bows his head, averting his eyes and whispers, "I'm sorry, Katara," before he encases himself in a crystal tent. Sitting down to meditate, Aang closes his eyes.

Suddenly, the crystal tent begins to radiate a brilliant, silver-white light. A huge beam of it shoots through the cyrstal and shines heavenward. A silver-eyed and silver-tattooed Avatar floats up from his ten, rising slowly in the silvery glow of light. Watching him in awe, everyone had different reactions. Zuko shifts out of his attack stance to watch, the Dai Li gasp, and Katara's eyes shine with pride and admiration of her young friend as she works her octopus form. Everyone relaxes noticeably. Execpt for Azula.

CRACK!

A bolt of blue lightning, sent by Azula, crackles across the room, its fiery tendrils reaching, searching for the Avatar. But before it can hit, a figure leaps into its path, two fingers pointed and together on each hand. Zuko tries to redirect the lightning, but he is only partly successful. Half of the lightning responds to Zuko's call and he struggles to redirect it back at the one who sent it. Azula. Laughing at his pitiful attempt, Azula calmly sends the lightning back at the Avatar. The two halves of the original burst combine and surge with renewed force towards AAng. Finally, blue fire strikes him. The silvery light disappears and Aang's limp body sinks through the air, speeding up as the hard, unforgiving floor looms closer.

"NO!" cries Katara. The force of her cry touched a few of the Dai Li's stone cold hearts. Calling a wave of water to her, she rode its crest towards Aang, desperately trying to catch him before he hit the floor. She made it just in time. The water disputes, flowing gently away from the beautiful waterbender and the prone body she carries.

"No," breathed Katara, the last traces of hope fading from her soul as Zuko, after his startling change of heart, leaps in front of her, ready to protect Aang and herself, is casually struck down by a lashing toung of blue fire across his leg. With a pained grunt, he falls to the side, unable to do anything.

Suddenly, a wall of flame flashes out between Katara and Azula. Iroh leaps into its place once the fire disappears.

"You have to get out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can!" that said, the mighty Dragon of the West fires wave after wave of fire, defending himself against his cruel, heartless niece and the chunks of rock hurled towards him by the Dai Li.

Katara wastes a second looking at him, shocked and grateful before she nods firmly. Draping Aang's arm around her shoulders, supporting him as best as she could, the master waterbender summoned a thick stream of water that carried her and the world's last hope for peace, up and out of the fray of the battle going on below in the crystal catacombs.

**Author's Note: For those of you who've read this chapter before, I updated it and changed it in such a way that it is no longer canon. :D So, reread and tell me what you think! Reveiws please! **


	5. Fall

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

After seeing that the young waterbender and the Avatar had escaped, the Dragon of the West sighed, a gusty sound of relief. Closing his eyes, he summoned a wave of flame that knocked Azula to her feet. While she was getting up, Iroh strode over to his nephew.

"Nephew, all you all right?" concern tinging his voice.

"I'm fine!" Zuko spat out the words in anger.

Shaking his head at his nephew's easily wounded pride, Iroh heaved Zuko to his feet, draping Zuko's arm around his own shoulders, keeping as much weight as possible off the wounded leg. Together, they walked as quickly as Zuko's leg would allow towards the gaping hole the waterbender's stream of water had made in her escape. _She was beautiful, so strong..._

Growling, Zuko shook the errant thought from his head. When the two had begun climbing, Iroh supporting Zuko from behind, Azula fired lightning at them. Whirling around to face his niece, Iroh sent a roaring snake of flame back at her, blocking her attack. Glancing around him, Iroh realized that there was no way that they could escape. They needed a distraction...

"Nephew! Go, do not look back!"

Zuko, ignoring his uncle's orders (after all, he _was_a teenager), looked back. Iroh was fending off attack after attack from Azula as well as the Dai Li. To someone who had known him for so long, Zuko could tell that he was already weakening.

"Uncle! No, I will not run away!"

Azula heard and nearly screeched with laughter.

"My poor, traitorous,_ honor-less_ brother. Running away from his little sister and leaving an old man to fight for him,"

"GO!" Iroh yelled, fending off a giant boulder, "I cannot hold them off for long. Do what is right!"

Zuko bit his lip._ I have to at least honor Uncle's sacrifice._With that, he began climbing up the rock face, making for the narrow shaft of sunlight. When he reached the lip of the whole, he glanced back. Iroh was still holding them out, but Azula was shrieking with rage at her brother's escape and her inability to go after him, held off as she was by Iroh.

Zuko scrambled out of the caverns, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the bright light. When they did, he pulled up the hood of his cloak, casting his distinctive features in shadow, and ran.

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Katara laid Aang back Against Appa's body as they sat together on his head. Sokka, Toph, the Earth King, and the bear watched them, varying expressions on their faces, from the saddle.

Katara's hair had fought free of it's tight braid and loops during the battle and now hung loose down her back, whipped by the wind into her face. She looks down at the apparently dead body of her best friend and adopted little brother with anguish and pain in her eyes. When she reaches out to check his pulse and breath, and finds none, tears form in her big blue eyes. Blinking them back as well as she can, Katara pulls out her vial of Spirit Oasis water. Not hesitating at all, she pulls the stopper from the thin neck of the bottle and with a flick of her hand, calls the water out to float above her palm.

The water spins, whirling faster and faster, gaining momentum until suddenly, the water flashes a bright ethereal glow, different from when she healed with normal water. Katara pulls Aang's limp body forward to rest against her, exposing his back, and with hope flaring up inside of her, presses the glowing water to the gaping wound on his back. A moment passes and the water flares brighter briefly before disappearing into his skin. The wound closes a bit, but leaves a horrendous looking scar. But Aang does not stir.

With a groan filed with despair and anguish, Katara pulls her friend's body closer, hugging him, tears spilling unchecked down her face. Suddenly, Aang's arrows glow for a moment before fading out. With that flash, Aang's face contorts into a grimace of pain and a soft groan escapes his mouth. Katara gasps. Elation runs through her veins as she lays him back against Appa. The young Avatar opens his eyes and looks about blearily before his eyes focus on Katara and he smiles a faint half smile. Katara, her eyes swimming with tears, pulls Aang forward into another hug.

As she releases him, Appa's pained groan sounds through the air.

"AAHHH!!!!" the whole group yells as the giant beast begins to be tossed mercilessly in a huge web of dangerous winds.

"AANG!" Katara screams as her barely alive friend slips off Appa's silky fur. Katara's arm stretches out and barely graps hold of Aang's arm, the rest of his body swaying perilously in the fierce gusts of wind. The traumatic experiance that he was now facing, piled on top of the trauma of what he had already faced, Aang had passed out again. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Katara leans down further to get both hands on Aang and yanks him upward. He lands with a thump back on Appa but the momentum of her pull sent her flying backwards and off of Appa.

"NO!" Sokka cries, about to leap off the saddle after his sister, only to be yanked back by Toph.

"Sokka! No! You'll just get both of you killed!"

The logic registers inside of Sokka's mind but the rest of him overrides Toph's common sense. He rages against her iron grip but can only watch helplessly as his younger sister falls.

Appa sees her falling, and does his very best to dive to catch him, but the turbulence drives him back. There is nothing anyone can do, as Katara falls down to what seems a certain death.

**Author's Note: YAY! I finally got this chapter done. It took ages to figure out how to get Zuko out, though I feel horrible for leaving Iroh with Azula. And it took a lot of thinking to decide who should fall off and how. And don't worry, Katara's not going to die. At least, I'm not planning for that to happen. But anyway, please reveiw! **


	6. Fall Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

Stumbling as leaves and branches reached to scratch him and roots seemed to materialize in front of his feet, Zuko limped through the forest. When he decided that he had gone far enough, he slid down to lean against the rough bark of a tree. Ripping away the burnt fabric that surrounded his wound, Zuko examined the burn.

It wasn't a large area, just a three-inch long welt, precise and clean, where Azula's whip of blue fire had touched him. Wincing, Zuko fumbled at the pouch he always kept by his side and pulled out a small jar. He opened it and spread some of the burn salve over the raw, red skin. Then, deciding that the bottom edge of his cloak was not necessary, he ripped it off and wound it around the burn.

Zuko closed his eyes and allowed himself a few minutes rest before he dragged his unwilling body up. That was when he heard it, the soft, trickling sound of running water. Almost, and I repeat _almost_, smiling, Zuko set off in the direction the sound was coming from. In a few minutes, he burst through the greenery and saw the water.

He hurried forward as best he could on his wounded leg and knelt down by the water. He cupped his hands and brought mouthful after mouthful of cold, sweet water to his mouth. His thirst quenched, Zuko stuck his head in the water, letting the cool liquid rinse the battle grim from his face. He stayed under as long as his lungs would allow, quite long as it was since he was a firebender, and finally brought his head out. Pulling in gasping breaths, Zuko shook his head vigorously, clearing the water from his dark, shaggy hair.

That was when he saw her.

The limp body of a young girl, clothed in water tribe blue.

The waterbender! Sad really, that he didn't know what her name was, seeing as he had been hunting her best friend, the Avatar, for so long.

Her hair hung down and loose, spread out in a bedraggled fan about her head. Her head was turned away from him, so he couldn't see her face. The side of her water tribe garb had ridden up to her thigh, revealing a series of mottled blue-black bruises that ran up the length of her leg. Zuko winced....ouch. The most gut-wrenching thing about her though, was that her right arm was twisted at an impossible angle underneath her body.

Wading through the waist high water, Zuko made his way to her side.

********************************************************************

"Katara!" her brother's voice reached through the tumbling air to sound clearly in her ear.

Katara didn't bother to yell back, he wouldn't hear her anyway. A strange, irrational calm filled her as she tumbled down below. So this is how it feels to die...no lights, no life flashing past her eyes. It was hardly what she had expected.

Suddenly, the dark gray sky disappeared to be replaced by green-tinted light, leaves, and thin branches that whipped at her body. A sturdy branch hurtled by, and Katara reached for it, but too late, it was gone. She felt the breath leave her body in one pained gasp when another thick branch rammed into her gut. The blue form slid off the branch and kept falling. Katara managed to regain her breath just as it was nearly knocked out of her again when she landed on her leg against an unyielding tree limb. Finally, Katara landed on a grassy area with a loud crack as her right arm twisted in a way it was not meant to and the bone snapped in two. A sharp, aching pain shot up her arm and Katara groaned. The pain was so intense that when the creeping darkness of unconsciousness came to claim her, she fell gratefully into its numbing arms.

**Author's Note: Wow! Two updates in one day! Sorry its so short though, I just decided it would be a nice place to stop. I don't know anything medical, so I have no clue if that's how your supposed to treat burns and I've never broken a bone so I don't know if I described the pain right. Feedback (in the form of reviews, of course :D) is very appreciated! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

Ignoring the slight throbbing in his leg, Zuko gently checked her for injuries. Besides the bruises on her leg and her broken arm, she only had a few minor scratches and bruises.

"What should I do, What should I do?" Zuko muttered beneath his breath. He couldn't just leave her here to die, which meant he had to treat her wounds. But he didn't have the medicine to treat her either and she couldn't be moved because of her broken arm.

Sighing, Zuko hiked around the area until he found a suitable stick. He lifted the waterbender into his arms and set her on her back. Using another strip torn from the hem of his cloak, he splinted the girl's arm, grateful that she was unconscious. He heaved her into a sitting position leaning against a nearby tree and slipped off into the shadows.

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A little girl as she was pulled along by her mother on the streets of a small city, gasped and pointed up at the face of a blue and white laughing demon. The demon silently raised a finger to it's lips, the universal signal for quiet and secrets. The little girl nodded and stayed silent, dragged off by her mother. She knew all about secrets, thanks to her prank-loving elder brother.

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Zuko breathed an internal sigh of relief. Thank goodness little children were so easy to sway. It had been a stroke of luck finding a laughing demon mask on the street markets.

The Blue Spirit was back.

The shadowy figure slipped silently across the tiled roof tops, stopping at a nearby medicine house. It perched out of sight on the roof, waiting. When the coast was clear, the Blue Spirt leaped down, landed silently on all fours, then straightened and disappeared into the medicine house.

A few minutes later, the Blue Spirit reappared outside the medicine house laden with stolen goods. The black clothed figure leaped off towards the outer fringes of the small city, consumed by the shadows.

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Zuko slipped something blue and white into his newly acquired pack, pulling off black clothes as he did so. Dressed once again in his earth kingdom peasant clothes, he squatted beside the still unconscious waterbender. Zuko was tremendously relieved that she had not awoken and attempted to run off. She would have fallen and gotten hurt or else been found by some unsavory character in the shape she was in.

After switly treating her wounds, Zuko pulled a blanket over himself and fell fast asleep.

**Author's Note: Sorry its so short, I feel kinda uncertain about how to write this part. I know this is a really cliched plot line, but I still like it. :D **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

Katara's POV

Mmm....the world swam, wavering in and out of focus as I blinked blearily. I moaned softly and closed my eyes to rest my head. When I opened them, the darkness at the edge of my vision had cleared and everything was in sharp focus again. Sifting through my memories, I remembered that I had fallen from Appa after pulling Aang to safety. _Well at least he's okay, _I thought.

All of a sudden, I realized that my arm was splinted, all my wounds treated, and a rough blanket draped across my body. Someone must have found me! Not moving and looking discretly around wtih half closed eyes, I observed my surroundings.

I was in a small clearing in the woods, next to a trickling stream. A pack lay on the ground next to a bedraggled heap of blankets piled against a nearby tree. The sun was just rising, its golden rays peeking over the tops of the trees and illuminating the lush foliage with a soft light. Suddenly, the pile of blankets shifted and a face popped out. A pale face with raven dark hair, golden eyes, and a scar. Zuko.

**************************************************************

Zuko's POV

When I awoke, I found two piercing blue eyes glaring at me. I gulped, nervous, for the waterbender had a murderous look in her eyes. She tried to leap up into a waterbending stance, but her bandaged leg buckled beneath her and she fell with a cry to the ground. I relaxed slightly. At least she couldn't hurt me just yet. When I pushed away my blanket and walked over to help her up, she glared at me.

"One step closer and I will pummel your face into the dirt, Zuko,"

Though she couldn't actually carry out her threat, I stopped. I nodded and walked away to sift through my stolen goods, watching her out of the corner of my eyes. As I rearranged bandages and salves, the waterbender struggled to a sitting position and pushed herself back over to the tree. She laid back against it with a soft sigh, wincing.

I really was sorry and deeply regretted my betrayal, no matter how breif, that had allowed the Avatar, her friend, to be killed. I knew she hated me for it, though I had tried to help her when I dived in front of Azula. _How to get her to understand that I was sorry and I had changed? How to get her to trust me?_

I pulled out a loaf of bread I had stolen last night and broke some of it off. I walked over to the waterbender.

"Not one step closer," she growled out.

"Fine, but you need to eat," I tossed her the bread and walked away to eat my own breakfast.

**************************************************************

Third Person POV

Katara eyed the bread warily. Reasoning that it could hardly be poisoned, since Zuko was eating the same thing, she broke off a small piece and popped it into her mouth. Though it wasn't all that well made, it was still quite possibly the best thing she had ever tasted. Katara finished the rest ravenously then settled back to watch for Zuko's next move.

After he had finished eating, Zuko walked over and sat down several feet in front of her. Katara noted with some amusement that he had sat down at exactly the same point she had threatened him at both times he had tried to approach her.

"What do you want?"

"Look, I'm sorry for betraying you back there. I was just confused and...and...I did try to defend you and the Avatar at the end didn't I?" Zuko's face was so pitifully remorseful that Katara almost felt herself relenting. Then she remembered who he was.

_That bit at the end was probably some trick to get me to think he was good. Well I wasn't falling for it again,_ she thought savagely.

"Apology not accepted," Katara spat at him, pure venom in her words.

He sighed, looking hurt.

"I wish you would trust me,"

"Not. A. Chance. Hurry up and say what you want, its not like I can go anywhere,"

"Fine. I was just going to ask if you could heal yourself,"

"No, I can't. I need both hands for healing,"

"Oh," After a moment's pause, which Katara spent glaring at him, Zuko said, "I'll help you find the rest of your group,"

Katara considered it for a moment before answering.

"Then what? You'll capture Aang and bring him back to that power hungry pychopath you call your sister?" she asked hotly.

"No. Then I'll join your group if you let me. I've changed. Really. I want to help you defeat the Fire Lord and Azula. But if you don't trust me, which you have every right not to, I'll just....go away," Zuko finished softly, looking at the ground.

"Fine then, its decided. You'll help me find my friends then you go away,"

Zuko sighed and stood up.

"All right then,"

So saying, Zuko walked to the edge of the clearing and rifled around in the underbrush as if he was looking for something. A few minutes later he straightened, a large stick in his hands. Under Katara's watchful gaze, he sat down and pulled out a dagger inlaid with a pearl design. Pushing the blade with his thumb, he whittled the stick down. After a good fifteen minutes, a pile of curling wood shavings sat at Zuko's feet and a makeshift crutch in his hands.

"Here, it'll help you walk," Zuko muttered, passing the crutch to Katara. The waterbender eyed it distastefully then grabbed it and wedged it under her arm on the side of her wounded leg. Using the crutch, Katara hobbled to the stream and filled up her water skin; the only one between the two of them. Zuko rolled up the blankets, strapped them to the pack, and then swung the whole thing on to his shoulders.

"They probably are headed to the Western Air Temple," the scarred boy explained as he began making his way away from the sun. Katara shrugged.

"You're the expert on tracking Aang, I guess," she said, the words pointed and accusing.

"Sorry," Zuko cringed internally, sincerity ringing in his voice. His apology was met with icy silence.

And so the rest of the day passed. The two kept a brisk pace; as fast as Katara's injuries would allow, and they had stopped only once to eat some more of the bread Zuko had stolen. By nightfall, the teens had covered a fair amount of ground.

"We're stopping," Katara finally declared. Zuko nodded and let his pack slip to the ground, rolling his shoulders. Katara limped over to a tree and sank down against it gratefully, a soft groan escaping through her chapped lips. She gulped down a few mouthfuls to quench her thirst, then after a moment's consideration, tossed it to Zuko.

"Drink," she ordered. Katara, though she hated him, had noticed Zuko staring longingly at her waterskin out of the corner of his good eye and she was not able to just sit by while someone needed her.

"Thanks," Zuko said, dragging the back of his hand roughly across his mouth after drinking his fill.

"If I hunt, will you cook?" Zuko asked a moment later, hesitantly.

"Oh? The great Prince Zuko can't cook?" Katara asked tauntingly. Zuko, being Zuko and feeling that he deserved all this hate and venom, took the verbal abuse silently.

"Yes, I'll cook," Katara said a moment later when her stomach grumbled loudly, "Guess you never needed to know how to cook up at the palace," she muttered quietly.

"Yeah, I never did," Zuko answered softly as he slipped off into the woods, unsheathing his blades.

An hour later, he stalked back to camp swearing under his breath, a huge gash across his forehead and clutching two dead lion-rabbits by the ears. Katara smothered a giggle behind her hand.

"Where'd you get that from?" Katara teased.

"Stupid lion-rabbit. Got me with its claws," Zuko growled. He tossed the meat at Katara then went to clean up the gash.

In a good mood, partly because of the promise of good food and partly because of Zuko's annoyance, Katara just went to roast the meat over the fire Zuko had lit earlier with bending.

A bit later, Katara and Zuko were sitting opposite each other on either side of the fire, enjoying roasted lion-rabbit and the last of Zuko's bread.

When she finished, Katara cleaned her hands with some water and wrapped a blanket around herself.

"I'll take first watch," she said.

When Zuko protested, she merely glared at him.

"I rise with the moon, remember?" Zuko winced internally, remembering his parting words as he had kidnapped the Avatar.

"Ok then, wake me up in a few hours,"

Katara nodded. Zuko stretched out by the fire, a blanket wrapped around him, and in a few minutes, fell asleep.

The young waterbender leaned back against her tree, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders in an attempt to ward off the chill that was creeping in under cover of darkness. It was a tranquil night with a full moon out. And though Katara could only bend at a fraction of her full strength and couldn't heal, she still felt the surge of power in her, the gentle push and pull of the moon increasing to a stronger beat.

"Hey, Yue," Katara whispered, then after a moment's pause, "Sokka still loves you, you know? He just...needs to move on,"

There was no reply but Katara felt a soft presence at her shoulder. Suddenly, a feeling of knowing and acceptance flooded through the 14 year old girl and she knew it was Yue. Katara smiled.

"Can you tell my mom I love her?" she asked. Agreement radiated in waves from somewhere near Katara.

"Thanks," Gradually, the presence of Yue faded and Katara was left once again, alone in the night. She let her gaze pan across the rough camp, flickering past the tall, sentry like trees, the fading embers of the fire, the pile of packs, before coming to rest on the sleeping firebender's face. Zuko's face.

That face had cost her so much, had been the face of the enemy for so long. The face that brought a roiling ball of bitter and tangled emotions to the surface. _How could she trust him when he had done so much wrong? When he had tried to kill them repeatedly? Come to think of it...Zuko had never actually tried to kill them, just capture Aang. In fact, when they had first met him back home at the South Pole, he had kept his word and left their village intact when Aang agreed to go with him. And that stunt back in the catacombs...had he truly changed in the end?_

Katara didn't know what to think about that boy. One moment, he seemed human; lonely, confused, hurt, **capable of feeling!** The next he was attacking her and betraying the group. Then, less than ten minutes later, he was back to protecting her and Aang. **UGH!!** Katara would have screamed in frustration if they were not trying to remain undetected.

Feeling a headache coming on, Katara shoved away her unruly thoughts and resolved to treat Zuko civilly until she could decipher his actions and who he really was, but keeping their contact to a minimum. Her head clear, she tried to look away at the moon, or the sky, or the stars, but she couldn't. Her eyes stayed riveted on Zuko's face._ He looked so different when he was sleeping_, Katara mused, _All the worry and anger lines gone._

Katara sighed and tore her gaze away from him and looked up instead at the moon. To her surprise, the moon had moved in the sky, indicating several hours had passed. _How much time did I spend looking at him?,_ Katara wondered. Shaking her head at her own foolishness, Katara stood and went to wake Zuko. She shook his shoulder. No response.

"Zuko," Katara hissed, "Wake up, your shift,"

"Mmm...yes, mother," he mumbled, still dreaming. Katara flushed.

"Wake up you lazy, irritating jerk!" Katara shoved hard on his shoulder.

"Gah!" Zuko yelped, jumping up gracefully and landing immediately in a bending stance. He cringed as a sharp spike of pain ran up his leg from his burn. Katara, fortunately for Zuko who was still trying to remain some pride, didn't notice.

"Your shift," Katara informed him dryly, "Good night,"

"Oh..." he mumbled, abashed.

Zuko settled down for his shift as the waterbender curled up into a tight ball, splinted arm cradled against her chest, and fell asleep.

**Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated this story for so long! I postponed it to finish my other story, Little Sisters, which you should all read and reveiw right after you finish reading and reviewing this one. :D Well, anyway, consider this extra long chapter as me making up for not updating in so long. I know its a bad ending, but I didn't know what else to write. Constructive, _nice (meaning criticism given with good intentions, not just to be mean), _criticism is welcome. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

The next morning Katara awoke to find that the camp fire was already put out, everything packed, and a clump of berries sitting piled on the ground a foot away from her. Zuko was sitting cross legged on the other side of the clearing, eyes closed and back ramrod straight in a meditation pose. Katara watched him warily as she eased herself up from the ground, careful not to make a noise. But as she shifted her weight, her leg rolled over a stick and it cracked deafeningly in the silence. Zuko's eyes flashed open and Katara gave up, instead sitting up noisily and beggining to eat the berries.

"Good morning," Zuko said civilly, not really expecting an answer but still determined to show her he could be good and trustworthy.

Katara glared up at him and continued eating. Zuko felt a twinge in his heart, though he was used to her cold behavior towards him by now. Coldness he knew he deserved, but it would have been nice to be forgiven. But, to his everlasting surprise, Katara sighed and looked up at him.

"Good morning. Thank you for the berries and for ... this," Katara gestured to her crutch and splinted arm. She spoke with cold formality, with no hint of offered friendship or forgiveness in her voice.

Zuko blinked, surprised that she was being civil, if not warm.

"Oh, ah, you're welcome," he stammered. Katara seemed not to hear.

*******************************************************

The two walked for the rest of the day in silence. The day was still and calm, but near sunset, the tranquility of the evening was shattered when a horrific roar sounded through the air. Both benders automatically moved into defensive stances. Katara summoned a weak water whip with her left hand, barely able to hold it in place with only one arm but still trying. Zuko shifted slowly into a basic firebending stance, wincing as the burn on his leg stretched.

The sound of sticks and leavs cracking beneath something heavy became louder and louder.

**ROAR!!**

An enraged platypus-bear charged through the foliage and thundered straight towards the two startled benders. Before Zuko could do anything, Katara bravely but foolishly struck out with a water whip. With only one hand to wield it, the force of the whip that would normally have knocked the platypus-bear to the ground only served to enrage it further. With a growl it turned towards Katara and charged.

Desperately, Katara reached for the water in her bending pouch, but the water just wouldn't work with her. The beast swiped at Katara with one massive paw, and though she dodged, she still received a large bruise to her side. Just then, a toung of flame reached for the platypus-bear, burning the hair on its side. The bear roared in pain, and turned towards Zuko. The firebender sent another burst of fire towards it, but the platypus-bear charged straight through the flame, knocking Zuko to the ground. It ran off then, convinced that the two humans who had dared trespass on its territory were dead.

"Zuko!" Katara cried as she pushed herself off the ground, "Are you all right?"

Genuine concern was in her voice, for Katara was essentially a forgiving person by nature, and her self-enforced anger at Zuko had been forgotten in the face of his pain.

"M'fine," Zuko muttered, trying to sit up.

"Don't you dare move," Katara chided, placing both hands on his chest and shoving him back to the ground. Zuko resisted for a moment before complying. The movement caused the leg of his pants to move. With a gasp, Katara saw the burn that covered Zuko's leg, the bandages he had wrapped around it torn loose by the platypus-bear.

"Why didn't you tell me you had this?! You needed the crutch more than I do!"

"It's nothing. I'm not weak," Zuko said firmly, defending his precious honor and pride.

"Oh, and are you implying that I'm weak?" Katara asked indignantly.

"What? No! No, I-I-I mean, uh..of course you're not-" Zuko spluttered, wondering how he had ever gotten into this mess.

Katara just glared at him and he shut up. Rifling through his pack, she found the burn salve and bandages and rewrapped Zuko's burn, muttering all the while under her breath, snatches of which Zuko heard.

"Stupid....idiot....arrogant....obsessed.....traitorus....stupid honor...."

Zuko grit his teeth and exerted every ounce of self control he possessed to keep his temper.

When the wound was tightly bound, Katara stood and pulled Zuko to his feet. She tossed him the crutch, pulled on the pack, and started striding off in the direction they had been going before.

"As I said, you need it more than I do. I noticed you limping earlier and my leg is pretty much better. The bruises are almost gone," Katara stated.

Zuko tried to protest that he didn't need it and that he wasn't weak, but Katara wasn't listening. He sighed and followed her, but refused to use the crutch. Ten minutes later however, with pain shooting up his leg with every step, Zuko was forced to swallow his pride and use the crutch. He glared when Katara smirked.

*******************************************************

They camped that night in silence. Zuko automatically lighting a fire and going out to hunt. Katara bringing out two blankets from the pack. When Zuko returned with nothing more than some berries and a sour expression on his face, she smothered a laugh (badly) and split the berries into two equal piles, eating her own share immediately. In silence, Zuko stretched out by the fire and fell asleep while Katara took the first watch. Katara woke the firebender up a few hours later so she could get some rest herself. The whole process was carried out in total and complete silence. But this time, it wasn't an awkward silence. It was a comfortable one.

**Author's Note: Ah.....I'm trying to convey that Katara is feeling less cold towards Zuko and doesn't actually hate him, just hasn't chosen to accept that in her mind yet. I don't know how well that came across, so just trying to clear that up a little. Reveiws are much appreciated! Advice is too! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

Katara sat at her watch, blanket drawn tightly around her and gazing up at the moon. Her legs were stretched out and crossed at the ankles, her broken right arm sat in her lap, and in her left hand she absentmindedly held a globe of water,its ever sliding, changing surface emanated a soft glow in the pale moonlight. She was at peace; no tangled thoughts of Zuko in her mind, no confused emotions running wild. Of course, he _had_ to go and ruin it.

Zuko stirred under his blanket. Katara glanced at him, thinking he was awake.

"You awake?" she asked. There was no response. _Huh, guess not._ Just then, he stirred again under his blanket. His eyes screwed shut, his face contorted into one of pleading and immeasurable hurt.

"Zuko?" Katara cried, worried. She scurried over and crouched by his head. The banished prince muttered something in his sleep and Katara leaned down to listen.

"No...mother, don't go," he whispered. Katara's heart stopped. He had mentioned his mother below the catacombs, said she had been lost to the war, the Fire Nation...was she dead? _Like mine_, Katara thought. Then, Zuko's face changed to add fear to the mix. Katara had never seen so many emotions on his face at once.

"Father! Please...I'm sorry! I never meant to disrespect you! PLEASE!" Zuko's voice escalated fearfully into a shout. He broke out in a cold sweat and Katara, frantic, finally slapped him hard across the face. Zuko finally woke up. His eyes flashed open and he looked up blearily at Katara who was now hunched over him, a few strands of hair floating down to brush against his chest and an expression of genuine worry on her face. His eyes focused and he glared at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, restraint clear in his voice. Katara flushed, suddenly aware of what it must look like to him; to wake up and find a girl hunched over his body. She scrambled back to sit a decent distance away.

"You were having a bad dream. You were rolling around and..." her voice trailed off as Zuko blushed. The firebender was furious at himself. Bad dreams were weakness, one he had thought he had grown out of years ago and one that should never be shown to anyone other than his mother.

"What?" Zuko spat out, "What were you going to say?"

Katara looked at him strangely for a moment before saying in a quiet voice, "You were talking about your mother, and pleading with your father,"

Zuko's face suddenly was devoid of any emotion. He flopped back down on the ground and looked up at the sky with a blank expression.

"I know you probably won't want to, and I have no clue why I'm asking, but do you want to talk about it?" Katara asked.

"No,"

Katara gave him a long suffering look and merely settled herself down to listen. A few moments later, Zuko spilled.

"My mother...she isn't dead, not that I lied to you down there!" Zuko added frantically, seeing the heat build up in Katara's face. He _was_ trying to earn her trust anyway.

"Just...Ozai...banished her when I was a kid. Younger than the Avatar. She was the only one who ever loved me besides Iroh. The only sane person in that palace," Zuko said wryly.

"At least she might still be alive," Katara said quietly, "That's more than I can say,"

Zuko glanced at her.

"I'm sorry," then, a moment later, "I doubt she'll be alive. Ozai banished her,"

"She got banished, not executed. You're banished and you're still here! If anything, you never give up," Katara encouraged him and glared at him (remembering all the times her little family had gotten captured and nearly killed by him), all in one breath.

"Your father?" Katara asked.

"He gave me this scar," Zuko said a moment later, not even bothering to gesture at the burn across his face. Katara gasped. _How could someone be so twisted and evil as to hurt their own son like this?!_ And this was the man they were going up against...

"I spoke out of turn at a war meeting when I was 14. I had to face my father in an Agni Kai-a fire duel," he added when he saw Katara's mouth open to ask about it, "When I saw it was him, I got down on my knees and refused to fight him. I BEGGED!" Zuko exploded, roaring. A fire dagger flared in his clenched fists but they disappeared when Zuko regained control. Katara flinched, but didn't move away.

Zuko sighed and relaxed back into the ground.

"He told me I was weak, dis-honorable. He gave me the scar then banished me. The only way I could regain my honor and return home was if I captured the Avatar-But I'm over that know!" Zuko finished.

Katara was silent. "I'm sorry," she whispered quietly, not meeting his eyes. The waterbender stood, walked away, then curled up facing away from Zuko.

"Your watch. Good night," Katara said, when Zuko did nothing. Sighing, the boy got up and took on his vigil. In the clearing beneath the moon, stars, sky, and clouds, two teenagers sat, wide awake, alone with their thoughts.

**Author's Note: HA! So, I guess inspiration did hit. (sheepish grin) Oh well, read and enjoy! Ah, and sorry for Zuko's drastic mood swings. I'm trying to make him be the nice, apologetic, careful to offend anyone in the gaang, Zuko he is after he's joined the gaang for a while, but his mom and scar are touchy subjects for him. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

"There it is," Zuko said, coming to a stop a foot in front of the canyon.

"Umm..." Katara raised her eyebrows at him.

"Trust me," Zuko answered, peering through the mist that shrouded the rocks. Katara's face flashed with uncertainty and the full meaning of what he had just said crashed down upon zuko. His good eye widened and he turned, borderline frantic, to Katara.

"Not that. I mean, you should trust me, but I understand if you don't. And-" Katara's face softened as Zuko babbled.

"We have to go down the cliff, right?" she asked, cutting off his ranting. Katara tossed him a rope she found in the pack and after glancing at her uncertainly, Zuko walked over to the edge.

"I'll go first, I guess," Zuko said as he prepared to slide down the rope. Katara rolled her eyes.

"I have a broken arm, Zuko. It's not like I can hold on to a rope,"

"Oh, right,"

Katara walked over to him and when he made no move, Katara explained, exasperated, "You have to carry me,"

Zuko blinked. Awkwardly, he wrapped one arm tightly around her waist, hugging her slender form to his own. He held on to the rope with the other and jumped down in to the mist.

****************************************************************

Appa opened his mouth in a rumbling groan as he shifted in his sleep. Aang lay propped up against some blankets on a raised stone platform that Toph had earthbended, his body still weak. He was slowly spooning watery porridge into his mouth, the results of Sokka's earlier attempt to cook. Despite his insistence that cooking was women's work and therefore Toph should do it, Sokka still ended up on cooking duty with a large lump on his head, courtesy of Toph. The young earthbender in question sat leaning against Aang's bed, stroking Momo. Sokka sat deep in concentration on the other side of their fire, trying desperately to come up with a plan to save his younger sister and find out where she was. The Earth King was no help; as soon as Appa landed, he took off to explore the world disguised as a peasant accompanied by Bosco.

"What if we-aw, no. Never mind," Sokka sank back into thought. Fifteen seconds later.

"We could always- wait. No, that won't work," Fifteen seconds later.

"Maybe w-"

"SHUT. UP." Toph stomped her foot and a pillar of rock sprung up beneath Sokka, propelling him into the air a few feet with a painful jerk.

Sokka glared at her but was too worried for Katara to make any fuss. The camp fell into a weary silence, broken only by Sokka's quiet half-made plans muttered beneath his breath, the clinking of Aang's spoon against the side of the bowl, and Appa's groaning snores. Suddenly, Toph sat straight up and jumped to her feet.

"Sugar Queen!" she cried happily.

"What? where!" Sokka leaped up and looked around frantically. Catching sight of Zuko with his arm around his baby sister standing on the edge of the temple,  
a dangling rope hanging behind them.

"Get your arm off my sister, scum!" Sokka cried, brandishing his space-sword. Toph stomped her foot and a wall of earth erupted between Zuko and Katara. Toph shifted her feet and an earth tent sprung up around Zuko, encasing him and rendering him immobile except for his head. He made no move to get out.

"Katara?" Aang called weakly, struggling to push himself off the bed.

"Aang!" Katara cried, forgetting about Zuko stuck between giant slabs of rock and running over to Aang. "Aang, how are you? How are you feeling? Are you all right? I was so worried!"

Aang smiled faintly, happy that the girl he loved was back.

"_You_ were so worried?" Sokka cried increduously, "_We_ were worried! We couldn't figure out how to go back to look for you without getting killed ourselves. And all this time you were with _him?!"_ By the end of his speach, Sokka was panting and was pointing a finger accusingly at the trapped-in-an-earth-tent Zuko.

"Glad to see you too, big brother," Katara smiled, hugging him.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see you back, but Sokka's right. Where were you? And what are you doing with him?" Toph asked as Katara hugged her, "You might want to explain why your arm is broken,"

"Your arm is broken!?" Sokka screeched. Katara rolled her eyes, gesturing to her splinted arm.

"Explain," Sokka demanded, sitting down.

"Well, Toph, let Zuko move. He's injured too," Katara said.

"No. I don't trust him," Sokka glared at the firebender in question.

"Well, I tr-" Katara stopped, amazed that she actually had come to trust him in the last few days.

"Crazy as this may seem, I trust him," Sokka opened his mouth to argue but Toph had already released Zuko. Zuko stumbled forward, then caught himself. Cautiously, he came to sit a few feet away from them, stopping when Sokka glared furiously.

"After I fell off Appa, I remember crashing through a bunch of trees and landing by a stream. I fell on my arm and it broke. When I woke up, I was leaning against a tree, my wounds treated, my arm splinted, and with a blanket covering me,"

"zuko?" Sokka asked disbelievingly.

Katara nodded.

"I didn't trust him at first," 'him' lowered his head, staring resoloutely at the stone floor at Katara's words, "But he offered to take me to the Western Air Temple, because he said that's most likely where you guys went. I didn't want to, because I didn't want to lead him to you guys. He said that he had c changed and wanted to join our group and teach Aang firebending. I told him that we would never let him join our group and he said he would take me here and then go away if we didn't want him,"

Zuko was getting nervous.

"I didn't believe him at first, but I guess I really do trust him now, even if I still don't like him too much. He didn't hurt me at all these past few days and I was injured so I couldn't bend. Plus, Aang needs a firebending teacher,"

Sokka gaped.

"Seriously? You trust...him?!"

"Yes,"

Somewhere between shock, surprise, and a bit of anger that Katara could trust this firebending piece of scum, Sokka rounded on Aang.

"What do you think? Do _you_ honestly trust Zuko?!" he asked.

Aang closed his eyes tiredly and pushed his bowl aside.

"I trust Katara, and Katara trusts him," he mumbled.

"Aang's with me on this one," Katara smirked. Zuko, meanwhile, was amazed that the two siblings could so obviously be arguing with each other and neither of them were getting hurt or making death threats in any number of ways._ I guess Azula and I never really had a normal sibling relationship..._

"Toph? What about you?" Sokka asked.

"Nyah. He's a firebender, and Aang needs a teacher. I say let him join, we can always beat him into a pulp if he annoys us right?" Toph shrugged, grinning. The blunt earthbender was no doubt imagining all the possible ways to throw rocks at Zuko. Zuko cringed internally.

"Good point," Sokka conceded.

"Thank you, Sokka!" Katara threw herself at her big brother and wrapped both arms around him. Sokka shoved her off, embarassed.

"Yeah, yeah.._sisters_," he muttered beneath his breath.

"Sokka, you help Zuko settle in while I check on Aang," Katara called over her shoulder as she sat down beside her friend.

"What?! No!" Sokka cried.

"I also have to make dinner, or are you not hungry?"

"Come on, let's go," Sokka said to Zuko. Toph snickered as she felt the two boys walk away.

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know that was a really bad ending to the chapter but I don't have time to write more and I want to get what I do have up and published. Reveiw!!!!!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaier: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

"Momo! My **food**!" Sokka yelled, waving his arms frantically above his bowl of rice as the hungry lemur dashed away. Sokka settled back with his rice bowl with a _humph _to the background of laughs from his friends. Even Aang, who was doing better, managed to laugh.

"Laugh while you can, 'cause he's coming after you," Sokka proclaimed.

"Give it a rest, Sokka," Toph told him with a friendly punch in the arm while Katara rolled her eyes.

The circle of happy, reunited friends was centered around a small, but cheery, fire in the open area in the Western Air Temple. Joyful chatter and playful teasing sounded as the warm glow of the fire and of happy contentment shone on the four faces. Outside of the circle, however, was Zuko. Though admitted by the group to join them, he still wasn't part of what Katara called their family. He was an outsider, and was painfully aware of it as he watched the friends talk and laugh from behind a pillar. He folded his arms and leaned casually against the stone, his shaggy black hair hanging just barely over his eyes. To the casual observer, Zuko was just a cool, nonchalant teenage boy. But to those who looked closely, one could see the subdued pain of not belonging, of failure and of loneliness etched into his golden eyes. As he watched, Katara laughed, covering her mouth with her good hand in a futile attempt to smother it, one eyebrow raised at the antics of her brother, and Zuko's mask slipped, and his pain and need to belong flooded across his face.

To Zuko's eternal horror, the waterbender, Katara, looked up at him just then, catching him with his mask down. The laughter on her face slid away to be replaced by one of worried concern. Her emotions were always so easy to read, always out in the open. Zuko quickly put up his defenses again, but it was too late, she had already seen and Katara was not the type to forget. Forgive, yes. But forget? _Never. _(sorry, I know that last bit was a bit off topic, I just had to add it in.)

"Zuko! Come on! The food's getting cold," Toph, perceptive as always and this time agreeing with Katara in her own subtle way, made a noise of agreement and with a shifting of her feet and a slight motion of her hands, earthbended a short wall, reaching to the backs of Zuko's knees, that began to move towards the fire, pushing Zuko along with it. Zuko scowled, but nevertheless moved to sit down cautiously beside Katara, feeling the safest with her. Sokka glared at him and Zuko, quick to apologize, lifted his hands in a surrendering gesture and scootched away a little. Sokka leaned back, mollified.

The chatter went on, though with a bit more tension. Toph was casual about the whole thing, though was monitoring everyone's vibrations with her feet. Sokka was obviously set against Zuko, though trying to restrain himself after his little sister lifted an eyebrow threateningly at him. Aang was the same, cheerfully happy as a wounded person could be and talking as happily around Zuko as with everyone else. Katara was furtively manipulating the conversation so that Zuko was included, no matter how many monosyllabic answers she received.

When the group finished eating, Zuko meekly offered to clean up. Aang thanked him quietly, sincerely, and lay back down to rest on his makeshift bed. Within a few moments he was asleep, he breaths soft and even. Katara nodded her thanks to him, but as she stood, her eyes lit up. Grinning, she turned to her elder brother.

"What?" Sokka eyed her warily.

"Why don't you help Zuko with the dishes?"

Both boys gave her horrified looks, Zuko's more pleading. Toph chuckled and congratulated herself on rubbing off just a little on Sugar Queen.

"No,"

"All right then," Katara sighed and yawned dramatically, "Well, I'm sooo tired. I'm going to go to bed now. I'm too tired even to _sew_. Guess your pants will have to wait 'till later," Toph outright laughed.

"Katara!"

"Yes, Sokka?" the waterbender smiled up at him innocently.

Sokka glared at her before standing up angrily.

"Fine," he muttered. Katara flew up and hugged him. "Thank you, Sokka!"

The boy shoved her off and smiled ruefully at her. Turning to Zuko, his gaze darkened. He gathered up an armful of dirty bowls and strode to the fountain. Zuko, his face closed off, picked up the remaining dishes and with a last scowl at Katara, which she returned with a full-fledged beam, and stalked off after him. Once the two boys were out of hearing range, Katara and Toph began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Sugar Queen, you're an evil genius!" Toph exclaimed, cackling madly.

"Thanks," Katara said, giggling.

**Author's Note: Hi everyone! I'm still outta town. I just had to write 'cause I was getting unbelievably bored. Sorry I'm still not updating regularly and that this chapter is so short. It's just a filler. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

"Your sister..." Zuko began cautiouslyas he set down a bowl he had dried. Sokka, up to his elbows in the now dirty fountain water scrubbed furiously at the innocent dishes.

"Has gone completely insane. I'm not talking to you!" Sokka declared. Then, realizing the contradiction he made, he snapped his mouth shut and with a glare at zuko, turned back to his scrubbing.

"Maybe we could talk things out?" Zuko suggested tentatively.

Glare.

"...Please?"

Astonished, shocked, incredulous look with raised eyebrows.

"Did you just say please?"

"Yes," Zuko replied stiffly, "Now talk,"

Sokka couldn't help it. He was a friendly, happy-go-lucky guy and this was just too funny. One look at Zuko's pained expression and the Water Tribe boy burst out into laughter.

Zuko looked at him like he was the one who had gone insane, not Katara.

Sokka wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at Zuko.

"Who knew you were so hilarious?" Then, with a sigh, Sokka added, "I don't know. I still don't trust you, but Katara does. And I trust her judgement enough that I won't insist we kick you out. And she wants me to be 'nice'. So...I'll try. Truce?"

Zuko looked at him in astonishment. All he had to do was make the boy laugh and suddenly they were arranging a truce?! The boy was an absolute, bumbling, idiot. But though Zuko questioned the sanity of the giver, he still gratefully accepted the truce. He stuck his hand out and the two boys, one golden eyed and serious, the other blue eyed and outwardly carefree shook hands.

"But if you do anything to make me doubt you, there_ will_ be consequences,"

Zuko nodded mutely at the open hostility in the other's eyes. Ordinarily, he would have felt rage at being threatened, but he knew that this was one threat he completely deserved.

That done, Sokka eyed the nervous firebender strangely before gathering up half the dishes and striding back towards the main group. When he noticed Zuko wasn't behind him he stopped and yelled,

"Come on, hurry up!"

Zuko allowed himself a quick grin that was mostly lost into shadow before hurrying up to follow his...friend.

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know this is short, but I wanted to get it up and posted. And I have an idea for the coming chapter, maybe chapters! I hope my few readers haven't abandoned me...that would be very sad. If at least.....say, six people review this chapter, then I PROMISE never to have this long of a gap between chapters. Well, I'd try not to even if I didn't have six reveiwers but oh wells! :D **


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender. **

The next morning the gaang prepared to set off. From his spot atop a pile of blankets, Aang watched his friends go about.

"There's Katara," he murmured softly, watching the girl he loved use the water from the fountain to sweep the floor for any trace that the group had stayed there. He blinked dreamily at her before a frustrated shout from Sokka got his attention.

"FINE! If you're so smart, why don't YOU arrange our packs on Appa!"

"Because, Snoozles, I. Can't. See!" Toph waved a hand in front of her unseeing eyes, "Hence, you get to do it. Look at Sparky here! _He's_ not complaining!"

The firebender in question winced slightly at his new nickname but let the corner of his mouth crook up into a faint, one sided smile. The younger children really were quite amusing when you weren't too focused on trying to capture them and ruining their lives.

Sokka humphed, picked up a bedroll, and chucked it haphazardly into the saddle, nearly missing Aang.

"Watch it, Snoozles!"

Aang grinned and called down,

"I'm fine!"

Toph rolled her eyes. "You're always fine, Twinkletoes,"

Katara walked over and petted Appa lightly before seizing two handfuls of his fur and hauling herself up next to Aang.

"Come on! We have to get going," Katara urged, then lightened her words by adding, "And Toph, try not to annoy my brother too much, okay?"

Toph grinned in response to Katara's happy mood. The perceptive earthbender knew exactly what recent reconciliation had caused that happiness and decided not to ruin it and just go along.

"Sure,"

Toph allowed Zuko to boost her up into the saddle, raising her eyebrows in surprise when he didn't make a single protest as her hands clenched in faint fear of leaving her element around his hair. This new, willing to please, quick to apologize, with a slight sense of humor Zuko was going to take some getting used to.

After she clambered up, Toph felt Zuko's light vibrations as he landed in the saddle. The Sokka-pressure disappeared from the ground as the Water Tribe boy leaped onto Appa's head.

"Appa, yip-yip!"

The air bison grunted and with a few slaps of his tail, sent the crew up into the sky.

*******************************************************

"Ugh," Toph flopped down in the middle of the saddle, "We've been flying for days and nothing's happened!"

"What are you talking about?" Aang asked curiously.

"I know what you mean," Sokka said, leaving Appa to steer himself as he joined the others to relax in the saddle, "No pirates attacking us, no Fire Nation barricades, no crazy, firebendingpsychopaths or their brothers trying to kill us, no-" Sokka stopped abruptly.

Zuko sighed and rubbed his temple with the heel of one hand.

"It's fine. Really. But you actually miss everyone attacking you?"

Toph stayed silent, allowing the scarred teen to mask his hurt with skepticism and a change of topic.

"Well...yeah. It's boring without them,"

Katara looked up from the waterbending scroll she was reading. As she tucked a strand of hair whipped loose by the wind behind her ear, Zuko marveled at how graceful her hands were.

"You guys are all crazy," Katara stated, a wry grin on her face. The gaang burst into laughter and even Zuko managed a small grin that no one noticed.

At least, that's what he thought.

Katara noted the smile and felt a sense of accomplishment that Zuko was making progress in his healing. Then...Katara spotted a column of smoke behind them. Azula.

*******************************************************

3 days later

*******************************************************

"Shut up, Sokka," Toph muttered in her sleep as she finally snagged a bit of rest.

"I didn't even say anything!" an indignant Sokka sat bolt upright, scowling.

"What...?" Toph mumbled groggily as she roused herself awake.

"She was dreaming, Sokka. I can't believe I'm related to you," came Katara's scathing comment.

Sokka began to respond but stopped.

"You dream about me?"

Toph flushed but hid it as her eyebrows drew down in a fearsome scowl.

"I dream about you_ annoying_ me,"

Sokka glared and turned away, his elbow ramming into Zuko's side.

The firebender didn't make a single sound of pain, but the sleepless nights and stress of Azula back on their trail were getting to him too and he snapped.

"Watch it," he growled.

Sokka was stressed too.

"You watch it, Scarface!" Zuko stopped dead and his cold mask slid smoothly back into place, as if it had never left. Katara suddenly felt an intense urge to strangle her insensitive, idiotic brother.

"Never. Call. Me. That,"

Sokka was about to summon a suitable insult retort when Aang's placating voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Guys, I know we're all stressed, I'm tired too, but we can't fight each other. The monks once said that scattered, squabbling individuals may easily be defeated, but a unified group, no matter how small, is strong,"

"You and your stupid proverbs," Toph muttered.

"Hey! The monks were wise!"

Toph snorted.

Aang opened his mouth as if to reply but then shut it and took a deep breath.

"Look. Let's just land and rest for a half day. Appa needs to anyway,"

"LAND!" Toph yelled happily.

"Fine," Katara sighed. At least someone's good mood was restored.

Ten minutes later, the gaang had landed, but a new squabble had broken out. Appa had quietly snuck off to huddle at the edge of the clearing and had promptly fallen asleep with Momo curled atop his head. The five children stood in the center of the clearing, yelling at each other.

"You irresponsi-"

"UGH! You're so ann-"

"Well you're a stuck u-"

"Excuse me!?"

"You are getti-"

"Hey! What is your prob-"

"Why am I even talking to y-"

"Jerk!"

"How can you be so irrita-"

"I am not!"

"Well," came a man's amused drawl from the edge of the clearing, "Its relieving to see that all the stands between the Fire Nation and victory is a group of bickering children,"

The gaang's argument stopped and each face turned slowly towards the sound, each body sliding easily into a defensive stance. Standing with his large, beefy fist wrapped around an enormous scimitar, was a very, very, very muscular man. His arms were easily the size of both of Katara's legs and almost every area of available skin had been tattooed. A thin, jagged scar ran down the length of his exposed barrel-like chest; a testament to some past fight.

"What do you want?" Sokka yelled, his face carefully formed into a mask of calm but anyone who knew him well could see the underlying panic.

"What I want..." the man pretended to mull the question over before his face turned steely and his eyes cold and hard, "Give me the Avatar and I'll give the rest of you a quick death,"

"You've just gotten yourself outnumbered," Toph said as she easily raised a short wall surrounding the group to prove her point.

"Outnumbered...hardly," From the shadows emerged six men, equally as large and as fearsome as the first. Each one wielded a different weapon and each wore a vicious, snarling grin.

Zuko growled low in his throat, drew his dual blades, and stepped in front of everyone else.

"Go!" he ground out harshly, "Get on Appa and leave; I'll hold them off for as long as I can,"

"No! We're not leaving you! You're part of our group now, Zuko. We don't abandon our friends!" Katara spat. A lump grew in Zuko's throat as he realized that Katara's fierce loyalty to her friends finally applied to him as well. No one had cared for him every since he had been younger than the Aang, and now he suddenly had five people he knew actually would be saddened if he died. But that realization only made it harder for him to push her, them, away.

"No, you have to go. None of us will escape otherwise,"

"Sweetness, he's right. We have to go," Toph said. Katara closed her eyes as if fighting a breif internal struggle. Her blue eyes flashed open with steely determination in them.

"Fine," she spat, "We leave,"

****************************************************************

"The Prince! I am truly honored to be in your presence," the man swept Zuko a mocking bow.

Zuko's only response was to glare.

"Hmm...I was sent to seize the Avatar, but in the state the Princess is in right now, I think there'd be more reward in bringing back you," the man grinned wolfishly at Zuko.

"Seize him!"

All seven men charged him at once, and as Zuko leaned backwards and propped himself up on his hands, whirling his legs around to create a wide arc of fire,  
he shouted,

"GO!"

And the four children ran for Appa. Sokka leaped straight onto Appa's head and as soon as Katara and Toph had helped Aang into the saddle, they were off. Only when they were a good distance away, did Katara allow herself to question what she had just allowed to happen.

**Author's Note: Wow, this is a long chapter...for me at least. Review please!! I feed on reviews. :D Tell me what you think about how I'm handling the Zutara-ness!! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

The blast knocked three of the men square in the chest and threw them to the ground where they lay unmoving and unconcious. Not looking where the others were, Zuko immediately curled up into a ball and rolled away. Once free of the heated area, he sprang up. Two of the men were walking slowly towards him, weapons unsheathed and teeth bared in malice filled grins, but the third was missing. Zuko backed up until he hit the nearest tree with a slight thump. Briefly, his eyes flickered to the skies.

_There! That moving speck was Appa. They were fine._

"I'm sure your sister will find a nice, slow way to kill you, Prince," the leader said.

_Of course. Azula._ Only recently had it dawned on Zuko that almost every misfortune and hardship in his life could somehow be traced back to his little sister.

Zuko stayed silent and still, the only movement was the shifting of his eyes as he tried to locate the third hunter.

"What, too scared to talk Prince-y?"

Zuko ground his teeth and tried to tune out the mocking voice.

Suddenly, the great behemoth lunged forward, his scimitar swiping at Zuko's middle. When Zuko leaped up into the air to avoid it, the man grinned and a net dropped down on him and sent him crashing down onto the unforgiving ground. Zuko flailed around, hands lit with fire, but the ropes had been soaked in water and weighted with rocks. In the precious few moments that Zuko was distracted, all three men tackled him. A huge, hairy hand pressed his head to the ground while others bound his wrists roughly behind his back and roped his ankles together. He was flipped over and a dirty rag stuffed in his mouth.

_A dirty rag drenched in oil_, Zuko thought as the disgusting flavor coated his mouth.

Suddenly, someone pinned his arms to his body from behind. When he struggled to kick his attacker, another hunter knelt and held Zuko's legs in place. The leader stood in front of the helpless prince and brought the flat of his blade down hard upon Zuko's head. The last thing he saw before darkness closed in was glinting silver whistling towards him.

*****************************************************************

The world was ringed in black and everything in it was unfocused. Zuko groaned quietly and tried to blink the world back into clarity. A few minutes later, when he suceeded, Zuko narrowed his eyes to mere slits and peered around discreetly.

He was in a small clearing in the middle of a forest. Lounging around the camp were four of the six men. The burly leader was one of the few missing. Doing a quick check of his body, Zuko realized that his arms were bound at the wrists around a tree and his legs were tied tightly together. The oil soaked rag was still in his mouth, preventing him from using his Breath of Fire or from talking.

Zuko reviewed the situation.

He was bound to a tree surrounded by six men who were very, very strong.  
His firebending was pretty much useless right now.  
He had no clue where he was.  
The gaang was probably long gone.

Even attempting to follow the rest of the group's "upbeat attitude" and to find the "silver sandwich" in the situation, the circumstances were still pretty hopeless.

_Great. Just great._

"You know when we're gonna get rid of that?" one man said, jerking a thumb at the 'unconcious' prince.

"Soon, I think. Gana said we're meeting the Princess down by the beach today to trade 'im off. He doesn't trust that girl, so 'ee wants to see the money afore we hand 'er the Prince,"

"Gana's right though. Her lightning though...I'm scared,"

"How bad can she be? She's 14!"

"...."

"You've never seen her before, have you?"

"No,"

"That'd be why. There's something about her...its absolutely terrifying. If we weren't getting so much money off of this, I wouldn't go within ten miles of her,"

"That bad?"

"You can't even imagine,"

Silently, Zuko agreed with the men. His only chance of escape was to get away before the trade off happened. Once he was within his little sister's clutches, it was going to be a lot harder to get away. But at least now he knew the name of the man responsible for his predicament. Gana.

_I'll get him back_, Zuko promised himself, but first I have to get these ropes off.

Being as quiet as he could, Zuko slowly began to move his arms back and forth behind the tree, scraping the rope against the rough bark. He wasn't quiet enough.

"Hey! He's awake!"

One of the men stormed over and smirked down at Zuko.

"Ain't so high and mighty are you know, highness?" he mocked.

Zuko glared at him, refusing to speak.

One of the man's comrades walked over behind Zuko. Zuko desperately tried to rotate his wrists so that the frayed side of the rope was hidden, but the man must have caught a glimpse of it.

"Hey!" the man behind him shot out his hand and seized Zuko's wrists. He twisted them painfully until the worn part of the rope showed. "He's been trying to escape! He almost got through this rope,"

The first man cursed and sent a booted foot flying into Zuko's gut. Zuko saw it coming, but could do nothing to prevent it. His breath wooshed out of him and pain blossomed in his stomach.

"That should teach him," he smirked as he wrapped a new rope around Zuko's wrists. Zuko glared up at the man, and the barely contained rage simmered there in his eyes like golden fire. But, bound up as he was, helpless and succeptible, the firebender was hardly a threat. The thug grinned, amused, and simply walked away.

********************************************************************

Later that night, after the gang leader, Gana, had returned, the six men sat clustered by the warm flames of the campfire, Zuko tied a bit farther. Though temperature really wasn't a problem on these barely chilly nights; Zuko simply raised his body temperature, but he let the men think they were winning another victory, if simply to stop them from coming up with something worse.

"Hey, Prince!" one of the men, the one that Zuko had identified earlier as Gara's right hand, strode over and jerked their prisoner's head roughly up. He yanked the oil soaked rag out of Zuko's mouth.

"Thirsty?" he asked.

And Zuko was. His mouth was dry and his throat was beginning to feel uncomfortably like sandpaper. But Zuko had his "tenacity", what some people, Katara, for example,  
would call his pig-headed pride.

"No," he growled out.

The entire camp erupted in roaring laughter.

"He ain't thirsty, is he?" Gana chuckled, "Give him some anyway; we can't have him dying on us," He made a motion with his hands, winking.

The man holding on to Zuko's chin nodded his head in response and grinned. Maliciously, he uncorked a flask of water and emptied its contents above Zuko's head. Water flooded into his mouth, choking him and soaking his thick hair and travel-worn clothes. Zuko coughed uncomfortably, his head still held up.

"Not so tough now, are ye?" the man asked. With one of his grimy, bumbling fingers, he prodded Zuko's scar and laughed. Wrong move.

With a rough jerk, Zuko yanked his head free from the man's grasp and the fire in his eyes flashed.

"ARRRR!!!" he growled, and fire roared out from Zuko's mouth; his Breath of Fire.

The man's hair ignited and he yelped, dancing around wildly trying to smother the flames. In his panic, one of his daggers fell loose from its scabbard on the man's waist and landed a foot from Zuko's leg. A few of the cinders from the man's hair had fallen onto the packs of supplies piled neatly nearby, sending the entire thing up in smoke. The six men, panicking, ran around trying to salvage the camp.

While everyone else was distracted, Zuko stretched out his feet and hooked the dagger by its curved hilt, flicking it into the air and catching it behind his back. He made quick work of the ropes binding his arms and feet and amid the chaos, slipped off into the shadows.

*******************************************************************

Zuko started off running through the woods, but growing up in a palace had not made it easy for him. With every other step he took, it seemed as if the tree branches reached down to scratch at his face and the roots shifting to trip him. And with every movement he made, a rustle of leaves or the snapping of a twig would accompany him.

Zuko forced himself to stop and fought off the rising urge to run as fast as his legs would carry him. He took a few deep, calming breaths before looking to the sky. The group had been headed towards Chameleon Bay before they had sighted Azula. Now that Azula was probably following him, the gaang would mostly likely head towards there. So, finding the North Star, Zuko set out at a slow walk.

He soon found that he walked most silently if he carefully set a foot down, checked to make sure that there was nothing beneath it to rustle or snap, then rolled his weight onto it. In a few minutes, Zuko settled into a smooth, silent gait, his path dark beneath a new moon. If Sokka had been there, he would have taken that as an omen...

**Author's Note: Yes, I know I haven't updated in forever. I'm sorry! What with school and homework and my extracurriculars, its hard to find time to write. Warning: the next chapter may not come in a while. I'm still trying to work out where to go with this story. Any suggestions for the plot line would be greatly appreciated! **

**I want to thank you guys for reading and reviewing this story. Thanks, Zutarian Knight, for leaving a review. It really helps to know that my stories are being read. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

An hour later, Zuko became aware of the incessant sound of moving water coming from his right. He stopped. Now that he was concentrating, the faint smell of salt wafted towards him on a cool breeze. That coupled with the sound of water told him that he was near the ocean. It'll be easier to move silently on the sand, thought Zuko.

He shifted his course, and moments later, reached the beach. Quiet waves washed the shores, and the dim starlight from above illuminated a single figure. Azula.

"Azula," Zuko snarled.

"Nice to see you too, big brother," Azula replied, twirling a strand of hair carelessly, "I know you'd love to spend the next ten minutes exchanging verbal blows with me, just before challenging me to an Agni Kai, but really, I have no patience for that,"

Stone cuffs crashed into Zuko's wrists and ankles, binding them together as the impact bruised his skin and threw him to the ground. Two Dai Li strode from their hiding place on the fringes of the trees into the open.

"And the oafs. Bring them in," she commanded, barely sparing her brother a second glance. The thugs that had caught Zuko stumbled on to the sand, prodded from behind by more Dai Li.

"Gara, I have another job for you,"

"Anything," he bowed deeply.

"I have a problem, you see. I'd kill this embarrassment to my family, but it'd have to be nice and slow, and what with the complications with the miserable water peasants stirring up rebellion, I don't have time to carry out the whole thing enjoyably. So until my father and I win the war, I need you to dispose of him for me. Place him somewhere that no one will recognize him and he will not escape from. When you have, report to me,"

"It will be my pleasure," he said, a thin smile spreading across his face.

"I knew it would,"

*****************************************************************************************************

"I have another one for you, old man," Gara said, yanking a heavily sedated Zuko forward.

"Not as old as you, Gara," said the gnarled, twisted man who ran the coal mines that supplied that huge battleships of the Fire Nation. He bent over and prodded Zuko's biceps. Zuko protested weakly, but in his drugged state, could move his limbs only sluggishly.

"Strong. Young. You'll get a decent bit of work out of him as a slave before he dies," Gara put in, knowing for sure that a boy such as Zuko would have the willpower to live at least as long as it took for Azula to win the war and come to fetch him.

"Taken," the man said, tossing over a small pouch of gold. He weighed it in his palm before grunting his satisfaction. He rounded on his heel and without a backward glance, left.

And Zuko's fate was sealed.

**Author's Note: Sorry you guys are getting such a short chapter after so long a time, but I promise I'll try to update soon....thanks for sticking with me. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

5 Days After the Final Battle

"You think he'll be okay?"

"Yeah, you heard the old man. Gara, was it? When we _asked_him about it. It's not like he slit Zuko's throat. That kid's strong enough to last a few weeks of slavery."

"It wasn't a few weeks. It was a month!"

"Calm down. He's fine. We'll be there in an hour. Why don't you get some rest?"

"No," Katara flatly refused. She turned her back on Aang and Sokka, Toph having been left back at the palace since her feet had been burned during the Final Battle, and gripped the edge of Appa's saddle with white knuckles. The cold wind blew into her face, cutting through her clothes and filling her with a cold sense of dread.

It was all her fault. She had made the final decision to leave Zuko. She had allowed herself to be persuaded. She had left him to be sold into slavery for a month._ It was all her fault._

* * *

A bedraggled shape huddled inside a sackcloth over-robe that was more patch than coat. His thin tunic-and-trouser outfit did little to fight the chill that was seeping from the floor into his skin, his body, his soul. He lay, fresh welts carved into the flesh of his back and legs over old ones, on the packed dirt floor of a section of the mine that had been stripped of its resources in a pool of vomit. His skin was caked with dirt, rendering his once pale skin dark. He was close to dying, having been deemed stripped, just like the part of the mine he was in, of any work they could drag out of him.

_Fine, it will end like this then_, Zuko thought through the heavy fog that filled his head. He blinked once, twice, and the third time, his eyes wouldn't open. He felt as if he were sinking through deep, heavy, water. Through the layers of cool liquid, a voice reached down, muffled and incoherent.

"Zuko! Zuko!" the voice shrieked, shrill and piercing.

_Go away_, Zuko thought, _The water is so soft. Leave me alone._

He felt someone grab his shoulders and shake him, and a strange, half-watery, half-shuddering sound accompanied it.

_Crying_, he thought, _Why are you crying? It is so soft...soft...soft._

And then he sank too deep to hear.

* * *

"Katara...will he be okay?"

"Yeah Toph, I think so. His breathing is back to normal."

"What about...ya know?" Aang asked from his spot at the foot of Zuko's sickbed.

"The addiction?"

Aang nodded, grimacing, "When we found him, his breath smelled horrible!"

"That was the snagweed. A lot of Fire Nation slave mines give them to the slaves. It helps fight off the cold for a short period of time down there, and its addicting, giving the slave owners more control. We can't cut off his supply all at once. We'll have to wean him off of it,"

"Oh..."

"Sparky's definitely going to have to change this whole 'slave-mine' thing when he becomes Fire Lord,"

"If he doesn't die before then." Sokka muttered beneath his breath, "When! I mean when. When he gets better."

Katara shot one final glare at him before placing a new wet cloth on Zuko's forehead.

"Hurry up and get better, Zuko."

**Author's Note: Mere words cannot express the depths of my apology. Please accept this meager bit of writing as a peace offering. :D **

**Seriously though, I am very sorry. I can only hope that some of you are amazing enough to stick with this story through the end. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Avatar: the Last Airbender.**

He became aware of his surroundings before he opened his eyes. His body was feverish, and he felt like his veins were flowing with fire that he had no way to stop. In the pit of his stomach was a dull ache and at his forehead were a thousand earthbenders hurling boulders at him from inside.

His eyes flew open, if only to seek a way to find something, anything, to put him out of his misery.

"Zuko!" a voice, startled and shocked and relieved and scared, all at once, cried. Suddenly, a pair of big blue eyes on a dark face filled his vision.

Zuko...the word sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. And the eyes...he had a faint notion that they were important to him. But more pressing thoughts shoved these vague ones aside.

He parted his lips, felt them crack, and rasped out a single word.

"Water..."

"Oh! right!" the face disappeared and the next moment they were back, and a hand had entered the picture. It held a small cup, and when the hand tilted it down to him,sweet water touched his lips. Most of it spilled of course, but the precious few drops that made it through his cracked lips wet his tongue and gave him the energy to ask for more.

The hand obliged and he downed another two cups before the voice said, "That's enough for now. You can't drink too much at once, or your body will reject it. I'm so glad you woke up, Zuko! I-we-were so worried."

That word again. He opened his mouth-it was easier this time-and forced his lips to form the right words.

"Who...Zuko?" The voice gasped. After a moment of silence, the voice spoke with slow certainty, though concern seemed to coat the words.

"You. You are Zuko." He nodded trustingly and closed his eyes again.

"Do you know who I am?" the voice asked hesitantly.

He opened his eyes again and struggled to focus on her eyes. Desperately, he dug through his mind, trying to place that face, that voice. But there was a heavy fog that filled his head and he gave up, mutely shaking his head.

The voice let out a small sound, a cross between a sigh and a gasp.

"Oh..okay. I'm Katara. The waterbender."

Zuko nodded again, weakly trying to keep his eyes open in case she had anything else to say.

"It's okay, Zuko. You can sleep."

And so he did.

* * *

"He didn't remember you?" Sokka's jaw dropped, "Or himself?"

Katara bit her lip and shook her head.

"Nephew..." Iroh groaned softly. In the ten minutes it had taken for Katara to assemble everybody and to summarize this latest revelation, the old man's face, normally defying time and aging, had changed to look every one of his many years.

"He'll remember though. Come on, Iroh. Sparky's strong."

"Yes. Yes, he is. And he will get through this. Katara, do you have any idea why this would happen?" Iroh's voice was certain and composed.

"My only guess is that the snagweed erased his memory. There are some memory enhancing plants I can give him, but I doubt those will do any lasting good. I'm fairly certain that once we get him over this addiction, his memory will come back."

"Good. Thank you, Katara."

Katara managed a tired smile and hugged him.

"Don't worry, Iroh. I'll even help Sweetness watch out for him, so you can take care of all this Fire Lord stuff."

"Regent," Iroh corrected automatically, "Zuko is Fire Lord. I am only ruling until he recovers."

Toph rolled her eyes.

"And yes, thank you. I still have to arrange my brother and my niece's cremation." Iroh stood wearily and with a nod, left.

The rest of the gaang filed out with words of encouragement until it was only Katara left sitting alone by Zuko's side.

* * *

Pain, pain, it was everywhere. He was cold, so cold and he knew that there was only one thing that would ever make him warm again. The dull ache in the pit of his stomach had grew and grew, blossoming out like icy fire throughout his body. He wasn't even aware that he was screaming, but scream he did...

* * *

Katara was nearly crying. Zuko was clearly in pain and there was nothing she could do about it. He was thrashing around on the wide bed, his back arching as he screeched, a sound he wouldn't have been caught dead making if he was still capable of rational thought. His limbs jerked uncontrollably and it was all Katara could do to keep him from hurting himself. Sweat drenched his body, soaking his clothes and hair, and though his body was burning with fever, Katara heard the word 'cold' mixed in with his screams.

Ten minutes and several scratches and bruises later, Katara realized something. An odd mixture of desperation, relief, anger,  
fear, and uncertainty flickered across her face.

"Stop it," she told herself firmly, "You knew you would have to do this soon anyway,"

Clearing her head of any nervous thoughts, Katara took out the key she had hidden away in her dress pocket and unlocked a simple wooden drawer. She reached in and pulled out a paper packet. Holding her breath, Katara measured out a small amount of snagweed and dodging underneath his arm, slipped it into Zuko's mouth and held his head slow while his saliva seeped into the drug.

When the taste of it finally hit Zuko, his twitching stopped and he lay, wearing a faint, dopey smile and blank eyes.

Katara shook her head as she waterbended the sweat off of him and ran cool water over his skin. Laying a hand across his forehead, she sighed.

_The symptoms must only come when he needs more of that awful stuff,_ she thought, _his fever is completely gone now._

Finally, she finished and sank down into the uncomfortable wooden chair placed by his bedside. A few minutes later, she was out cold, snoring softly as her head slumped forward to rest by Zuko's arm.

**Author's Note: I am tired. It is past midnight. I have school tommorow. I am sleep deprieved. Here's the next chapter. **


End file.
